


Raised For War

by FictionPenned



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Characters have always had daemons, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:56:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28847169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FictionPenned/pseuds/FictionPenned
Summary: Among the Horde's trainees, there exists a constant pressure to project ferocity with one's daemon -- to bare wicked teeth and sharpen deadly claws and to shift as little as possible, even when the child is very, very young. Theirs is a culture that values uniformity above individuality, strength above weakness, stoicism above emotionality, and victory above all else besides.In many ways, this environment runs directly contrary to the natural tendencies of the human soul, but Adora and Catra do not know that.They know nothing but what the Horde tells them.Written for Bulletproof 20/21
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21
Collections: Bulletproof 20/21





	Raised For War

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Katherine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katherine/gifts).



Though battle is an unimaginable prospect for most people, Adora and Catra were born to it, trained for it, forged to be weapons of the highest order. 

So, too, were their daemons.

Among the Horde's trainees, there exists a constant pressure to project ferocity with one's daemon -- to bare wicked teeth and sharpen deadly claws and to shift as little as possible, even when the child is very, very young. Theirs is a culture that values uniformity above individuality, strength above weakness, stoicism above emotionality, and victory above all else besides. 

In many ways, this environment runs directly contrary to the natural tendencies of the human soul, but Adora and Catra do not know that. 

They know nothing but what the Horde tells them. 

They exist on the Horde's time. 

They breathe the Horde's tainted air. 

They live and die by the Horde's grace. 

And through it all, they firmly believe that they are defending the world from true evil, for that is the narrative that the Horde has crafted. 

Adora's daemon, Swift Wind, often takes the form of a mountain lion, at Adora's peer-pressure induced nudging. He is blonde and lithe and lethal, padding silently through the halls at Adora's side and ripping dummies to shreds during their many mandatory training exercises. Shadow Weaver has spoken her approval of the pair on rare occasions, claiming that if Swift Wind maintains this form upon settling, there will be great success and enormous opportunities on the horizon for them both.

Adora's heart always sings in response to the praise -- light and giddy and bubbling -- but it is always undercut by the knowledge that Shadow Weaver directs only derision towards Catra, whose daemon, Melog, is fickle and insecure. Melog darts between forms quicker than most -- a creature of insubstantial blue flame, either unable or unwilling to maintain one shape for very long. 

Adora's heart breaks for them, as it always has. Catra is her closest friend, and though Catra never cries -- even on Shadow Weaver's cruelest days -- Adora can always sense her friend's sadness when they settle in for the night. To combat it, she and Swift Wind move to lie in Catra's bunk with Catra and Melog, staving off the looming darkness with warm bodies and murmured jokes. 

Normally that is enough to stave off Catra's misery. 

They are in this together, Adora and Catra. 

They have _always_ been in this together, ever since they were little kids with big mouths, big dreams, and even bigger hearts. 

There will, however, soon come a day when they are ripped apart. It will be a day when one of them finds herself imbued with magic and love and newfound hope while the other self-destructs through desperation and grief and fear. It will be a day when one daemon settles as a winged horse and the other as a lion with a fiery blue mane. 

And though they never expected to be on opposite sides of battle, Adora and Catra will one day face each other with weapons drawn and jaws clenched and eyes narrowed -- both of them equally stubborn and unyielding. Not even their wealth of shared history is strong enough to persuade them to sheath their weapons and surrender. 

They were always raised for war, after all, and neither of them plan to back down without a fight. 


End file.
